<font color="red"> I couldn't even think fast enough to drop the bucket, which might have helped some to slow it down. </font>
You guys thinking of building some kind of emergency brake might want to read J-J's last sentence again. I've been lucky to survive enough accidents to know this comment hits the nail right on the head. Nine times out of ten once the action starts you're just along for the ride and its all over before you can even blink. I flipped a farm tractor over backward one time way back in my youth. I thought, heck, if the nose comes up, I'll just stab the clutch and it'll drop right down. It would have - but by the time my foot shot out the clutch pedal was above my head. Forget reaching for a brake - it won't be where you thought you put it.
I've broken enough hydraulic hoses on my 1845 by now that it's beginning to dawn on me it's just a matter of time before I have a J-J and a wheel motor hose pops. I'm trying to teach myself to be consious of where I am and what my escape route is when I'm around steep hills and cliffs and ponds and things that can hurt me. I'm trying to work across hills rather than up and down, trying to keep a tree between me and a run away. Things like that. Anything to buy a little time. Ponds especially are beginning to scare me. Running away or rolling over is bad enough - plopping in a pond is a whole 'nother ball game.
(Yes, I know the 1845 uses a brake tender that automatically applies the brakes if pressure is lost in the wheel motor circuit. I also know the brakes won't hold the machine on a steep slope unless they are well tuned - and they seldom are.)
Sedgewood
